Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Immigration News Roundup

What does abortion have to do with immigration reform? If you can contort your brain hard enough, anything's possible. I guess...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Republican-led legislative panel claims in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.

The report from the state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform also claims "liberal social welfare policies" have discouraged Americans from working and encouraged immigrants to cross the border illegally.

[snip]

The statements about abortion, welfare policies and a recommendation to abolish income taxes in favor of sales taxes were inserted into the immigration report by the committee chairman, Rep. Ed Emery.

All six Democrats on the panel refused to sign the report. Some of them called the abortion assertion ridiculous and embarrassing.

Ridiculous and embarrassing - that pretty much sums it up. If the GOP keeps it up (all 10 of them on the panel endorsed the report) they are going to become a permanent minority at all levels of government. Even the citizens of Nebraska believe in comprehensive reform - not the Minutemen-style of policy that has been coming down the pipe the past couple of years. Here are the findings from a recent poll conducted by the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

Many rural Nebraskans are aware of recent Latin American immigrants living in their community.

Many rural Nebraskans support allowing undocumented workers who have been working and paying taxes for five years or more to apply for citizenship.

Most rural Nebraskans express agreement with policies that try to prevent illegal immigration.

Opinions are mixed on creating a "guest worker" program.

Many rural Nebraskans disagree with policies that grant citizenship or other benefits to young undocumented immigrants.

Most rural Nebraskans are concerned with recent immigrants learning to speak English within a reasonable amount of time.

Approximately one-half of rural Nebraskans do not see immigration from Latin American as being positive for rural Nebraska.

Opinions are mixed on the reception Latin American immigrants receive from rural Nebraskans.

A Dallas suburb took the fight against illegal immigration into its own hands today when its city council unanimously barred landlords from renting to undocumented tenants, making it the first city in Texas to take such a step.

The six council members in Farmers Branch, an inner-ring bedroom community set just 11 miles from downtown, also unanimously resolved to make English its official language and voted to enroll police officers in a federal training program that will make them de facto immigration officials.

And since I'm a nice guy, I'll end this blurb-o-thon with a feel good story. An update of the story of Elvira Arellano, first reported here at this blog back in August - who has declared sanctuary at her church in Chicago. Her young son, a U.S. Citizen, is preparing to address the Mexican Congress to plead for their assistance with political pressure to keep his mother from deportation.

The boy said he planned to wear a new tan suit for a scheduled address before Congress on Tuesday. Several lawmakers who met with him informally said they would present a resolution asking their U.S. counterparts to stop Elvira Arellano, 31, from being deported, said Emma Lozano, the executive director of the Chicago-based immigration-rights group Centro Sin Fronteras who accompanied Saul on the trip.

[snip]

The single mother's fight is being closely watched by legal experts and immigration activists on both sides of the border as it could affect more than 3 million children who are U.S. citizens but who have at least one parent in the country illegally.

While his mother stays inside the church, relying on food and clothes brought by friends, Saul has taken her battle to the outside world.

Over the past few months, he has spoken at conferences from Chicago to Los Angeles and written letters to top U.S. politicians, including one to President George W. Bush, which he delivered to the White House last month.